Issue 63

Legos and Day Camp by Daniel

For my birthday I asked for money instead of presents from everyone, so I could buy a special Lego set. It's the Battle of Endor. It comes with 2 scout speeders, 2 commandos, 3 ewalks, a Walker, a catapult, and a deflector shield base. It's cool, because if you push a certain button on the base it blows up. Thank you to everyone that helped buy my birthday present!



I went to Scout Day camp for two days. I went one day to Jurassic Journey and I also went to a Super Hero one. There were tons of activities there. We went BB gun shooting, we did archery, and we did sling shot shooting. One of the activities was to dig up fossils. I don't have a favorite activity because I liked it all! It was a great place.

20 Years!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in my 20 year high school reunion activities. I was surprised at the fun I had seeing old friends and acquaintances again after such a long time, many I had not seen for almost 20 years. Friday night we had a Show and Chamber reunion where we ate some good food and got to know each other, and our families, better. The highlight was when we sang some of our old music together, we had quite a group turn up to the reunion, and it sounded great! A flood of memories came rushing back and some of the emotions that come from singing in close harmony with your friends as well. It was a great time and the general consensus was that we had a desire to get together this next year to sing together again. A big thank you to those who organized the event and made it happen!



The next morning we attended a Seminary Council breakfast and had a chance to catch up with almost everyone with whom I served on Seminary Council. Again, tons of fun to see everyone and to see everyone so happy in their lives. Again, a big thank you to those who organized the event and made it happen!

Later in the day we attended a picnic at the park where we played the face recognition game more earnestly than before. This was the larger school crowd at this gathering. The trick was to mingle and try to recognize a few and then see if that led to recognizing more. It worked and before long it was like being at a dance with lots of chit-chatting going on and general mixing and mingling. A fun time.

Later that evening Noreen and I attended a dinner event where more people attended and again, the face recognition game, this time with the aid of name tags! Much easier and still a lot of fun to mix and catch-up with friends and acquaintances. I had the opportunity to talk at length with a few close friends from high school which was great fun. The general feeling on the experience was one of humble gratitude for being able to mix with such a great crowd of friends and acquaintances that helped shaped my early years. What a blessing! I was also so very happy to see people in good circumstances in their lives, with very few tragedies. What more could you hope for? Not much. So, for those of you who might have your own reunions coming up, attend it! - Steve

The Show and Chamber Crowd

8 of the original 12 Seminary Council Members

Issue 62

Hiking the Uintas

We were lucky enough to spend the 23rd and 24th of July camping in the Uintas, where it was gorgeous and about 30 degrees cooler than the valley. We tented next to a beautiful lake and the next morning started out on the trail to Twin Lakes. About 3/4ths of the way there I was dying for a snack, so we stopped in the shade for me to pull an apple from the pack. It was only then that the horrible realization hit us. We had left the food pack back at the car! Tip - if you pack your fishing gear in a blue back pack and your food in a blue back pack, remember to make sure you have both with you! The whole way up I assumed Steve had the food on his back. Well, needless to say, we had to modify our plans a bit. We hiked back down about a half mile to Wall Lake and Steve and the kids started fishing. Then Steve L. and I started the trek back down the mountain to recover our food. I should note here that my husband did offer to go down to the car and bring back our lunch, but I knew that I would be eating much sooner if I went for it myself. The extra 2 miles hiking seems a small price to pay when you are 11 weeks pregnant and starving! So we made the trek, and arrived at the car exactly 2 hours after leaving it. We quickly ate our lunch and Steve L. carried the pack with the rest of the food all the way back to Wall lake. Our rescue mission allowed us to stay fishing for about 4 hours with great success. Janey prayed that we would all catch a fish, and guess what? Everyone did! One after another, everyone pulled one beautiful trout out of the lake apiece. (Except for Mom who didn't have a fishing licence and was content to lay on the shore watching everyone fish after her extra long hike.) Dad cleaned the fish and we brought the home and grilled them up for dinner. We were so proud of the kids who all ate their own fish with a hearty appetite.

Issue 61

BLAB by Steve L.

Last week (all last week) I traveled with the rest of the scouts up to Bear Lake Aquatics Base. BLAB is placed on the bank of Bear Lake, and is about 60 acres. Running all summer long it is only open to scouts. Complete with light house flag pole, dining hall and trading post it is every scouts dream. After arriving and setting up camp, we headed down to our first merit badge class (enviromental science.). Merit badge classes take place every day from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 2:00 to 5:00. After environmental science, we went to the flag pole for opening flag ceremony and campfire. After some hilarious skit preforemed by the staff we went to bed. The week progressed with us earning countless merit badges (namely : environmental science, soil and water conservation, basketry, Indian lore, rifle shooting, orienteering and most of archery.) and opening flag ceremony and troop yells every morning .and on the last day we went motor boating/water skiing/nee boarding/tubing. It was an AWSOME camp!!!!! I am going to be volunteering there as soon as me 14! I can’t wait till next year!!!!!

Can you believe we ate that much pizza?

Days of 47

Imagine dozens of primary children dressed in white t-shirts, jeans, and hard hats marching behind a float of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, under construction. Imagine them marching down 5th South singing, "Building Eternal Families." Imagine them waving to the crowds, thrilled to be a part of the longest running children's parade in the country. Imagine all this, because I can't figure out how to get my awesome photos off my cell phone. The kids loved being a part of the Days of 47 youth parade.

Daniel Turns 10!

We celebrated Daniel's 10th birthday by seeing UP! at the theaters. He invited his best friend too, and then we had a family party that night. His siblings were very generous with their gifts of Legos and he asked for money (for more Legos of course) from Mom and Dad. Happy Birthday Daniel!

Issue 60

Baby's First Photo

We love our baby's first photo! I affectionately call the baby our little gummy bear. I've never had an ultra sound at nine weeks before, but they made it sound pretty standard at the OB's. That's what you get for waiting 5 years between babies - they change everything on you! Next they'll tell me to only sleep babies on their tummies or something. After experiencing the ectopic pregnancy 7 months ago, it was very reassuring to see the baby attached in the right place. I could even see the baby's heartbeat! My official due date is February 13th, but they said not to plan of going past the sixth, since it will be my sixth c-section. That's just fine with me!

Issue 59

Big News!

Drum roll please!






Wait for it . . . .











Wait for it . . . .










Yep, you guessed it! The Family G is growing. We are expecting our 6th edition in February!

"How am I feeling?" you ask.

Very first trimester, unfortunately. Ya know, the 24/7 nausea thing. Oh well, whatever it takes to get these sweet babies here. We have waited a long time for it to be the right time for baby number 6.

"Aren't you announcing it a little early?" your thinking.

Well, maybe. But since the entire ward knows, I thought I'd let you in on the not so secret, secret. We told the kids and our families over the 4th of July but I hadn't really planned on telling anyone else quite yet. Well Sunday, Ellie was having a bad asthma episode and Steve could see I was looking a little green, so he offered to teach my Sunday School class while I rested for three blessed hours on the couch, and had a nap with Ellie. And so, I missed the big announcement, but I understand it went something like this:

Daniel, who always bears his wonderful testimony every Fast Sunday closed by saying, "And I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and my Mom is pregnant. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I'm relieved really. I don't have to pretend I'm not feeling nauseous anymore!

Biking the Parkway

We have been wanting for a long time to bike the Jordan Parkway. It's miles of scenic bike path that follows the bank of the Jordan River. Well, Friday was the day. We spent the morning getting all the bikes primed for the season and then loaded them up. Who knew the Parkway would be so hard to find? We put in at 90th south, but the trail dead-ended a few hundred feet later. So we crossed busy 90th and tried the other side, but couldn't find the trail. We finally called a friend who set up straight and we loaded the bikes back up and went to 6800 south. Worth the wait! After two false starts we found miles of gorgeous bike trail.

Aunt Becca gave us this awesome tandem bike that was just perfect for Ellie to be able to join the ride. She's definitely too big for the babyseat, and I wanted her to get the exercise! She rode behind Mom the first half and then behind Dad the second half.

Whitney

Daniel

Janey

Steve L.

The crew, minus mom who's taking the picture.

Fun on the 4th

Our 4th of July this year started with the guys setting up flags throughout the neighborhood at 5:30 in the morning. Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's ward for their traditional bike parade and Bishop's breakfast.

Cousins!

Popsicles for breakfast?

It's the Bishop's Breakfast and Grandpa's the Bishop. Great food Grandpa!

Face painting took on a new meaning this July 4th!

Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a little Kube action.

Steve L. spent the morning helping run the West Jordan 4th of July parade. He was helping a fellow scout with his eagle project.

Then it was off to Aunt Becca's for more cousin fun!

After a fabulous BBQ, we broke out the fireworks. Here's some sparkler action.

Catching tons of parachutes!

An awesome F16 flyby was also a highlight.

When dark fell it was finally time for the much anticipated Cul-de-sac of Fire! With Uncle Dave's grand finale flaming ladder set to patriotic music!